Tags

Hasakah, Syria – On Wednesday, Syrian regime forces hit the Sheikh Yassin neighborhood in the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, killing five civilians from one family, and wounding dozens others, local sources reported.

The Sheikh Yassin neighborhood has been under Islamic State’s (IS/ISIS) since nearly one year.

Speaking to ARA News, media activist Mazin al-Shami reported that a family of five lost their lives after their house was hit by “a rocket containing chemical gas” in the Sheikh Yassin neighborhood in the city.

The attack also caused the suffocation of some 13 civilians who were transferred to a nearby field hospital in Deir ez-Zor.

“The victims were from al-Haj Hazza family. The attack led to suffocation of other civilians in the neighborhood,” al-Shami said.

A medical source in Deir ez-Zor told ARA News that the investigation of the victims’ corpses revealed the use of chemical gas during the attack.

IS insurgents took control of the majority of Deir ez-Zor’s neighborhoods more than a year ago, after battles with al-Nusra Front, while pro-regime forces kept controlling districts of Jura and al-Qusur as well as the military airport of Deir ez-Zor.